That's better, the wind has dropped a bit and there's sunshine out there, here I go!
I bought a bridge camera a wee while ago, mainly for the really long zoom it has but, I brought it this time to take everyday photos. It really doesn't give the sharpest detail but if you want to zoom in on something, in good light! WOW!
Morning panorama
I go on about loving 'weather', I loved the wisp of rain in the peach coloured cloud over by the pipe.
It was still too cold to walk to the Fort (jessie!) so I parked by the sport pitches entrance and walked from there.
Weather over the lighthouse
There were the usual birds out on the shore.
Wading Curlew
Wading Curlew - zoomed in
You can see the power of the zoom on these cameras above, this one is a Nikon P950 I got fairly cheap on eBay.
Bar-tailed Godwit grazing
Bar-tailed Godwit grazing - zoomed
The two shots above also show that zoom power but, the first one is actually cropped so looks closer. That's because I can't hold the camera steady enough hand held only, to keep the birds in the centre :(
It's that time of year when the birds are all looking for mates, building nests and getting ready for better weather, there were quite a few Song Thrush out singing this morning.
Song Thrush at 30mm
Song Thrush at 89mm
Song Thrush at 196mm
Song Thrush at 357mm
So these shots really show the power of the zoom, I was probably walking slowly closer too, I tend to grab a distant shot, to make sure I have a photo of the bird, then work my way closer, hoping it doesn't fly away. Depends what the bird is as well.
Of course, not all birds cooperate.
Song Thrush - No photos please!
Song Thrush looking fed up
It was turning out to be a bonnie morning as I strolled towards the fort.
Common Gull pair
Once I was past the gulls screeching at meI took a slow wander, just looking all around, who knows what you might see?
Linnet on Gorse
There are LOTS of plants and beasties all around this area, some quite rare. I spotted these flowers in among the Daffodils and had to look them up on iNaturalist.
Glory of the snow
One of my favourite birds is the Hooded Crow. I've seen roughly three around this area, this one appears to have paired up with a Carrion Crow, that's normal apparently but, I did see a pair of Hoodies late last year, all good!
Hooded Crow on seaweed
Keep an eye out for the mixed pair along the shore, they're usually near each other but not always close.
I spotted two Herring Gulls up on the fort wall, maybe a pair? I loved the look I got in this shot!
There has been a lot of Long-tailed ducks around but they seem to have dropped away now, not so many around.
Female Long-tailed duck
Female Long-tailed duck looking this way
Female Long-tailed duck
Young male Long-tailed duck
The shot above shows what I think is a young male, different beak colours and colour starting to show on its back and face.
There's some fascinating stuff all around the fort, remains of .........
l these old posts fascinate me. What were they before? What did it look like way back? But the colours, shapes and textures can be beautiful.
What were these for?
Another bird I see here often is the Red-breasted Merganser, quite often a few females feeding just off the shore. This is a male, way out in the channel. Great hairdos eh?
Red-breasted Merganser male
Submarine shadow?
So, back up onto the shore and a quick wander through the ranges and back to the car. I think I mentioned earlier, the birds are a=starting to sing and gather so there are more of them every day shouting from bushes and trees.
Chaffinch male
Chaffinch female
There are always Chaffinches :)
Blackbird male
Blackbird male up close
There are always Blackbirds, mainly males at the moment, young birds won't be long.
Distant Song Thrush
I only walked from the first range out to the car park but saw loads of birds, the sun was out and it was roasting in the sheltered areas.
A bird I absolutely love and had hoped to see more of when we moved back to Scotland, is the Yellowhammer and we do, we see lots of them. The males go brighter yellow in Spring / Summer, the females stay more green coloured. I didn't see any females on this walk.
I was really lucky with these shots, these birds all landed really close and stayed there. More interested in finding a mate than worrying about me.
The next set of shots are left as they were to show how close they came. I was one side of the path, it was on the other.
Fabulous to get so close. I actually had my lens in a bush when a wee Wren popped into the same bush in front of me but flew off sharpish!
I headed back to the car, didn't see a lot more but happy with the walk, the day., so far and my photos. We were heading over to Lossiemouth later so I had to get my skates on.
